UNT notebook: Turnovers key for reversing UNT slide

When Dan McCarney looked back at a
highly successful first season at North Texas last year, he attributed the Mean
Green’s ability to jump from three wins the year before his arrival to a 5-7
finish in his first campaign largely to a dramatic improvement in turnover
margin.

UNT forced nine more turnovers than it
committed last season, a margin that led the Sun Belt Conference. That total
represented an improvement of 12 over the 2010 season.

Lately, UNT has been sliding in the
opposite direction — a trend that has contributed to a late-season slump in
which the Mean Green has lost its last two games.

UNT turned the ball over twice last week
in a 37-19 loss to Arkansas State and four times two weeks ago in a 38-21 loss
to Middle Tennessee.

What made those turnovers even more
painful for the Mean Green is that it hasn’t forced a turnover to balance out
its own mistakes in those two games. In 21 games under McCarney, UNT has failed
to create a turnover in only four games.

Two of those games have now come in
back-to-back weeks.

The trend is one UNT will look to change
Saturday when the Mean Green faces South Alabama in its final home game of the
season.

“We have to get back to taking care of
the turnover margin,” McCarney said. “We have had many games this year when we
were really good. The last two games, we were minus-6. That is not what we
coach or teach or preach or rep through the entire week. We have to get back to
that, make good decisions with the ball and take good care of the ball.
Defensively, we have to have the confidence to go make a play on the ball when
it is in the air or go sack the quarterback and knock out the ball or tackle a
receiver or a running back or a tight end and cause a fumble.”

UNT’s game against USA could offer the
perfect opportunity to do just that. The Jaguars rank last in the Sun Belt in
turnover margin with a deficit of eight on the year. USA has lost 12 fumbles
and thrown 11 interceptions.

UNT has recovered only four fumbles on
the year, the lowest total in the Sun Belt.

Safety Marcus Trice has forced a fumble,
recovered two and intercepted two passes to lead a secondary that has helped
UNT post nine interceptions on the year.

UNT had just nine interceptions all of
last season.

McCarney sees adding to that total as a
necessity if the Mean Green is to finish the season strong and make a run at
the .500 mark.

UNT can avoid posting its eighth
straight losing season by winning its last three games.

“That is one of the real disappointing
things the last couple of weeks — we have forced zero turnovers with our
defense and given it up six times,” McCarney said. “That is extremely
uncharacteristic. We have to get better immediately, starting Saturday.”

That could be a tough goal to reach
against USA. McCarney said the Jaguars have been improving.

USA beat Florida Atlantic in double
overtime three weeks ago for its first win over a Football Bowl Subdivision
opponent this season and outscored Florida International 13-0 in the second
half of a 28-20 loss last week.

“We have had some ups and downs,” USA
coach Joey Jones said. “We started off slow but have gotten better as the
season has gone along. We have played some good football the last four weeks.”

UNT believes that it will have to get
back to posting a positive turnover margin to slow down the Jaguars’ progress
and snap a two-game losing streak.

UNT
can post winning record at home again

One of McCarney’s top goals early in his
tenure at UNT is to create a home-field advantage at Apogee Stadium.

The Mean Green can take another step
toward that goal with a win over USA that would give the Mean Green a winning
record at home for the second straight season.

The milestone is one UNT has not reached
since the 2003 and 2004 campaigns The Mean Green went 5-0 and 4-1,
respectively, in those seasons.

UNT went 2-3 at home in both 2006 and
2007 before going through one of the worst periods in program history in terms
of winning home games.

The Mean Green lost all five of its home
games in 2008, went 1-5 in 2009 and then lost all six of its home games in
2010.

UNT began to recover last season, when
the Mean Green finished 4-2 at home, including a milestone win over Indiana.

UNT is 2-2 at home this year, including
a 30-23 win over Louisiana-Lafayette that was broadcast nationally on ESPN2.

“We are going to try to do everything we
can,” McCarney said of trying to pick up one more win at home.

Attendance
mark close

UNT is taking aim at an attendance
record for the second straight season heading into its final home game.

The school set an all-time total
attendance record last season, when the Mean Green had 113,186 fans in the
stands for six home games.

Where UNT fell short last season in
terms of records was in average attendance. UNT averaged 18,864 fans per game,
a total that fell short of the record of 19,704 it averaged in 1997.

UNT is averaging 19,668 fans a game this
season and needs a crowd of 19,854 for its game against USA to break the
record.

“We appreciate the support and the fans
and students who have come out so far in this season with only five home
games,” McCarney said. “This is our last one and it’s a big, important game.”

Robertson
to serve as honorary captain

Cleveland Browns linebacker and former
UNT standout Craig Robertson will serve as the Mean Green’s honorary captain
for its game against USA.

Robertson led UNT with 133 tackles in
2010, when he was a first-team All-Sun Belt selection.

He has posted 50 tackles and intercepted
two passes this season for the Browns, who have a bye this week.

“He’s one of only two active NFL players
from North Texas,” McCarney said. “That is one of the things we want to fix, improve
and enhance in the next few years. He’s a phenomenal football player and is
[fourth] in tackles for the Cleveland Browns. They are open, and he will be
back. He’s one of the best to ever play here at North Texas.”

Robertson’s former UNT teammate Lance
Dunbar is on the Cowboys’ active roster.

Men’s
basketball

UNT
battles injury bug

UNT continues to work its way through a
series of injuries that has hampered the team heading into its season opener at
Creighton on Friday.

UNT lost potential starter Justin
Patton, a senior forward, for up to a month with a knee injury he suffered in
preseason workouts. Freshman guard Clarke Overlander is working his way back
from a hamstring injury that kept him out of UNT’s exhibition win over East
Central (Okla.), and the Mean Green could be without Jacob Holmen in the
opener.

Holmen, a senior forward, sprained his
ankle in a scrimmage over the weekend, putting his status for the Creighton
game in question.

Volleyball

UNT
heads into final weekend of season on roll

UNT will enter the final weekend of the
regular season on a roll when it comes to Sun Belt matches.

The Mean Green beat Louisiana-Monroe
last week and has won three straight conference matches heading into the
weekend, when it will face Arkansas State and Arkansas-Little Rock.

UNT will face ASU at 7 p.m. Friday
before taking on UALR at 1 p.m. Sunday.

UNT (21-11, 7-5 Sun Belt) enters the
weekend tied with ASU (17-11, 7-5) for second place in the Sun Belt
Conference’s West Division, one game behind UALR (12-12, 8-4).

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